Former congressman Barney Frank appeared on MSNBC Tuesday morning and focused his remarks on the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing incident squarely at political opponents who call for a reduction in the size of government. He used the incident to make a case for increased tax revenues and somehow linked the security needs in Boston to the sequester cuts:
I’m talking common sense. I’m saying that if the sequester had gone through, and we had not had enough money we wouldn’t be able to do this. Yeah. I’m making an argument about reality. And I think that’s the only sensible response. We are spending a great deal of public money here. I’m glad that we are. And yes. I do want maybe for this to have some people be less enthusiastic of reducing the ability to respond to a crisis like this. You’re asking me am I trying to make an argument to affect how people make decisions about public policy? Absolutely. I think this is an important teaching moment about what we need if we’re going to live the way we want to live.
Even MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts found it discomforting that Frank would make such a brazenly political comment. He asked the former congressman, “You talk about revenue and infrastructure and having the capabilities necessary to respond to something as atrocious as this. Do you feel like you’re capitalizing and making political hay of this event that happened?”
Watch the segment here:
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